Our team was running a Corolla and I'm always on the lookout for
fast parts for cheap. After our first race, we were valued at
~$350 so we had a little room to play with. I happen on a 4AGZE
engine listed for $500 on an MR2 forum. If I can talk the kid
down to $350-$400, bribe the judges and I might only have to take 10-20
penalty laps. I make the call and arrange to meet on Sunday
morning at 8:00. This is one of the "Not Recommended" cheats on
the LeMons not to do list: What
would Smokey do? Cheating tips from Judge Murilee

So I get there a little early, and I see an MR2 in the driveway and
some other sedan. I knew I was dealing with a kid anyway, so I figured
the MR2 was his. I go up and knock on the door. A woman answered in a
bathrobe. I ask if Nate was there and she said no, he's over [xxx]
house. I mention that I was supposed to meet him and pick up and
engine. All the while, she was occasionally looking back over her
shoulder. I was about to say that I was going to call him when he
drives up and she promptly closes the door. We meet, and I say that I
met his mom. He looks in the driveway and he mentions that his dad
should be home too but isn't. He goes into the house for what
seems like an eternity and comes out distraut. We go over and
look at the engine. It doesn't turn when you turn the crank bolt
(later I realized that the flywheel was digging into the pallet he had
the engine on). I start getting background on the engine - it's
been in his garage 3 years, he never turned the engine over by hand, he
never sprayed oil into the spark plug holes, it's a JDM engine that
needs 105 octane gas, it has no egr systen, etc. You know, all
the stuff I need to put on my "street" car. By now, the kid looks
like his puppy died. We settle on $200 for the engine w/ecu and
he confides in me that he just walked in on his mom and "someone" who
wasn't his dad. As we are loading the engine up, another woman
comes out of the house wearing a party dress, something small, skimpy,
and braless, and starts smoking. It's like 9:00am and it's far too
early for that dress. We are in the middle of lifting the engine into
the truck and she's encouraging us. It took me a minute, but
after realizing what's going on, it's everything that I can do not to
bust out laughing in the poor kids face. His mom comes out and
gets in the car (I'm blocking her in) with the other woman and they
take off across the front lawn to get out of there.

The kid asks me if I want the transmission that goes with the
engine. I said how much and free was the reply. I'm never
one to turn down free parts. As we turn the corner, I saw what
was to be our next LeMons car parked under a tree. The kid was
selling an MKI MR2 too - it had an engine with rod knock and the 4AGZE
was going to be the replacement engine but he didn't have the time,
energy, or know how to get it done. I picked the car up for $300,
just enough so that we didn't have any penalty laps. And with it
came: spare tranny, spare hood, suspension, clean interior, and other
things that we either used or sold. Our car, as it sat on grid in
CMP was $280.

At CMP, the first time through BS, the judges looked at the car, at the
suspension (which we never touched except to cut the springs), laughed
a bit and sent us on our way with no laps. Later that night, they
stopped over and asked us if we really snuck a 4AGZE engine by
them. I lifted the engine cover and showed them. Early
Saturday morning, the judges stopped by again and told us to see the man... We see the man and I started telling the story -
"In a nutshell, I was picking up the car and engine from a kid who
found out his mom was a lesbian that morning..." Jay stopped me there,
told me that he is running a family friendly event, and to get the hell
out of there. So I never actually got to tell the story to much
of anyone except our team.